????最近，甲骨文銷售戰略的轉變導致公司收入下降。但是公司總裁馬克?赫德表示，長遠看來，轉變銷售戰略有助于公司在日后獲得更多利潤。

????馬克?赫德曾經在老東家惠普公司（Hewlett-Packard）創造了驕人的硬件銷售業績。但在轉投甲骨文公司（Oracle Corporation）并擔任公司總裁后，他到目前還沒能復制昔日的輝煌。這家總部位于加利福尼亞州的紅木城的公司上周早些時候發布公告稱，本季度硬件銷售未達到預期。這一不利消息導致甲骨文公司的股票在上周四下午的交易中受挫。

????赫德表示，甲骨文公司主動上調了部分系統的銷售價格，這是導致硬件銷售出現下滑的原因。

????上周四下午，赫德在電話會議中向投資者表示：“對于服務器銷售來說，薄利多銷很容易做到。但我們希望通過提高產品價格，獲得更高的利潤。”

????許多分析師一致認為，甲骨文公司的硬件業務仍在不斷發展（總體來看，該公司本季度經營狀況良好），但是，一些分析師對甲骨文公司的整合能力頗感憂慮。去年，甲骨文公司以74億美元的價格，收購了服務器制造商太陽微系統公司（Sun Microsystems）。

????近期，調查機構柯文公司（Cowen and Company）的高級研究分析師彼得?戈德馬徹在一份報告中寫道，“事實上，盡管拉里（甲骨文公司CEO埃里森）聲稱，該公司在2012財年的銷量將增長兩倍，但是，2011年第二季度硬件銷售未達到預期、缺少收入增長點以及利潤疲軟等問題，這一切都動搖了投資者對其管理層控制業務能力的信心。”

????摩根大通證券公司（JMP Securities）的分析師帕特里克?沃拉文斯認為，因為其他硬件銷售商推出產品的速度比甲骨文公司更快，所以甲骨文公司在低端服務器市場的競爭能力可能低于預期。沃拉文斯在周五上午發布的一份報告中指出，“我們還從業內其他渠道了解到，甲骨文公司需要更好地‘培養’太陽微系統公司的業務。”

????甲骨文公司在上周四公布了一些振奮人心的數據。雖然上季度硬件銷售額為12億美元，同比下降了6%，但是凈收入在財年第四季度增長36%。與此同時，總收入增長13%，為108億美元（分析師此前預測的這一數據為107.5億美元）。客觀來看，情況還不算太差。

????當然，對硬件銷售的前景以及赫德依靠太陽微系統公司掘金的能力，甲骨文公司一直持樂觀態度。

????上周四，甲骨文公司的CFO薩弗瑞?凱茲向投資者表示：“我們有馬克在。他不是對硬件銷售不在行，恰恰相反，他甚至能在短短一下午的時間就賣出價值1億美元的硬件。如果不看實際利潤，只看銷量，你們也許會很開心；但是，我不認為你們真的樂意這么干，因此我們希望改進硬件的銷售方式。”

????A change in sales strategy is behind a drop-off in revenues, but Mark Hurd says it's all in service of more profit down the line.

????Mark Hurd may have an impressive track record selling hardware for his former employer, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). But that hasn't translated to immediate success at Oracle Corporation (ORCL), where Hurd now serves as president. The Redwood Shores, Calif.-based company's hardware business fell short of expectations in an otherwise strong quarter, announced earlier this week. The disappointing news sent Oracle shares down in late trading on Thursday.

????According to Hurd, the reason for the decline in hardware product revenues is that Oracle is deliberately selling fewer systems at a higher price.

????"Selling units that have no gross margin are easy to do," Hurd told investors on a conference call Thursday afternoon. Oracle's focus, Hurd added, is selling higher-margin machines.

????While many analysts agreed that Oracle's hardware business is still evolving (and that overall, the company had a solid quarter), some expressed concern over its ability to successfully integrate last year's $7.4 billion acquisition of server maker Sun Microsystems.

????"The fact is, despite Larry's [Ellison, the company's CEO] claim to triple the number of boxes Oracle will sell in FY12, the second hardware miss, a lack of revenue upside, and soft margins has shaken investor confidence in management's iron clad grip on the business," Peter Goldmacher, a senior research analyst with Cowen and Company, wrote in a recent note.

????Another analyst, JMP Securities' Patrick Walravens, suggested the company may not be competing as well as expected in the lower-end server business partly because other hardware vendors can ship their products faster than Oracle. "We have also had other industry sources suggest to us that Oracle needs to do a better job of 'nurturing' the Sun business," Walravens wrote in a report published Friday morning.

????To put things in perspective, Oracle did release some impressive numbers on Thursday. While hardware sales came in at $1.2 billion, down 6% compared with the same quarter a year earlier, overall net income rose 36% in the fourth quarter percent. Meanwhile, revenue climbed 13% to $10.8 billion (analysts had expected revenue of $10.75 billion). Not too shabby.

????Of course, Oracle remains as bullish as ever on its hardware prospects--and on Hurd's ability to spin gold from Sun.

????"We have Mark here," Safra Catz, Oracle's CFO, told investors on Thursday. "It's not like he doesn't know how to sell hardware. He'd probably sell $100 million of hardware in an afternoon here, and maybe folks would be happier, but we just would make less money. I just don't think that would really make anyone happy. We'd like to do it the better way."